Early Beatles photographer Astrid Kirchherr dies at 81

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) — Astrid Kirchherr, the constant companion of the Beatles in their early days in Hamburg, who took the photographs that established their iconic early look, has died at 81.

The relationship between Kirchherr and the band, especially original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, to whom she became engaged, was dramatised in the 1994 film Backbeat, which had Sheryl Lee of Twin Peaks fame portraying Kirchherr.

Brian Epstein made them understand the meaning of polish and panache. Klaus Voorman gave them a graphic sensibility. Douglas Millings crafted their initial boyish brand of sartorial splendour. But Kirchherr gave the Beatles an image, a sense of danger, style, androgyny and sexuality.

John Lennon, Ringo Starr & Astrid Kirchherr in a train's compartment while shooting the Movie A Hard Day's Night in England 1964. (Redferns)

"When no one else showed the slightest of interest, Kirchherr snapped the first ever photograph of the Beatles — the version with drummer Pete Best and bassist Stu Sutcliffe — in her hometown of Hamburg when they were an unknown, greaser five-piece playing Little Richard covers at the Star Club in 1960. From there, it is was Kirchherr who coaxed the band to cut their hair into mop-tops for a greater sense of savoir faire.

"The Beatles will forever be known as the original boy band... but the men — or, rather, boys — owed a major part of their success to a woman," wrote Stephanie Eckardt in the glossy style bible, W, on the occasion of the 2018 Damiani publication of Astrid Kirchherr with the Beatles.

Upon learning of her death, Beatles biographer Mark Lewisohn said "Danke schön" in her native German and described her this way on Twitter: "Intelligent, inspirational, innovative, daring, artistic, awake, aware, beautiful, smart, loving and uplifting friend to many. Her gift to the Beatles was immeasurable."

On Thursday, original Beatles drummer Pete Best had wished her an early happy 82nd birthday on Twitter. He described his "lifelong friend" as "a great girl who took my favourite photo ever of a Rock n Roll band. Just happened the band were The Beatles. The original five members."

In a second tweet upon hearing the news of her passing, Best wrote, "Absolutely stunned to hear the news of Astrid passing. God bless you love. We shared some wonderful memories and the most amazing fun times. Condolences to family and friends, Pete (Petey)."

"In my opinion, their iconic hairstyle imprinted them on the libidos of the teenage girls that were their fans," said author Denny Somach, the man behind A Walk Down Abbey Road, and an occasional interviewer to Kitchherr. "Astrid was responsible for the look of Beatlemania."

After coming across the group at a gig in 1960, Kirchherr, who was born in Hamburg in 1938, dated and eventually became engaged to Sutcliffe, the band's first bassist. It was not just her photography but her "moptop" haircut for Sutcliffe that helped form the imagery that would soon cause the group to become international sensations, albeit without Sutcliffe — who died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962, as she rode in the ambulance with him — or Best.

Kirchherr remained friends with the band after Sutcliffe's death and continued to photograph them behind the scenes of A Hard Day's Night, photos that she published in a 2008 book, Yesterday the Beatles Once Upon a Time. She also shot George Harrison — whom she described as " always my sort of guardian angel" — for the 1968 Wonderwall Music album.

Following Sutcliffe's death, Kirchherr took photos for the 'Love Me Do' single sleeve; although she did not shoot the iconic With the Beatles album cover, it was acknowledged as being influenced by the style she had already established.

The Beatles were very taken by the stark, somewhat formal, monochrome look of Voorman and Kirchherr. They were inspired by Sartre and the French existentialists of the time, but, she told Beatles biographer Hunter Davies, "Our philosophy then, and remember we were only little kids, was more in following their looks than their thoughts. We were going around looking moody. We wanted to be different and we wanted to look cool." When she did her first photo shoot with the then-quintet, it was amid trucks at a fairground, with the group in black leather — following her lead.

Speaking to Terry Gross on the 'Fresh Air' podcast in 2008, Kirchherr told the show's host about the origins of the Beatlecut. Voormann "had a big problem," she explained, "because his ears used to stick out, and then I had the idea to just grow the hair over them, which he then did and it looked absolutely beautiful. So when the boys saw Klaus, Stuart was the first one who said, 'Oh, I would like to have that hairstyle.' And because their hair was very long I could do it in one night ... which I did. And Stuart was the first one who performed onstage with the so-called Beatles or Klaus haircut."

Even before Twiggy adopted the boyish haircut, it was Kirchherr — seen in photos of that time with a similar cut to the mops she trimmed for the Beatles — who wore, and lived it, first.

Of the Beatles, she told Gross: "The most important thing I gave them was my friendship. They trusted me. There (was) no fear of being photographed."

After the mid '60s, Kirchherr mostly gave up photography. "Astrid lost confidence in her work and did little professionally after 1967," Davies wrote. She later admitted that she wasn't sure at the time whether she'd actually been good at it or only received the acclaim because of having the biggest stars in the world as her seminal subjects. She became a photographer's assistant for more than 20 years after that, then became an interior designer.

She was married and divorced twice — first, to Gibson Kemp, who replaced Ringo Starr in Rory Storm and the Hurricanes — and had no children.